Connie Mack can't quit Adam Smith

By Charles Mahtesian

07/24/12 06:51 PM EDT

In the latest installment of the long-running drama between the Florida GOP congressman and the reporter he loves to hate, Connie Mack's Senate campaign has issued yet another press release disparaging Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

The press release, in the form of a letter, came Tuesday afternoon in response to a blog post Smith wrote earlier in the day noting that Mack is competing with New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel for most missed House votes.

From Mack campaign manager Jeff Cohen's letter:

Since we recently (and appropriately) criticized you for unfairly attacking Connie while doing everything you can to protect Bill Nelson, your latest attack comes as no surprise.

I guess you just can’t help yourself.

You tweeted and reported that Connie missed votes this year. What you didn’t mention is that when Bill Nelson was in Congress and running statewide for Governor in 1990, he had the absolute worst voting record of anyone in Congress. He missed a whopping 56% of his votes. Surely you must know that.

Once again you are acting like Bill Nelson’s Communications Director doing opposition research on your opponent while ignoring the record of your own candidate. The only thing that surprises me, Adam, is that you would do this so soon after being exposed.

The repeated hostile engagement with one of the state’s top political reporters suggests that Mack sees some political return in publicly taking on Florida’s largest daily.

But the tactic also has some downside risk: the Wall Street Journal concluded last week, “Perhaps Florida Rep. Connie Mack someday plans to write a book on how to lose a winnable Senate race. Chapter One: Pursue a public vendetta against the press.”

[Full disclosure: POLITICO is partnering with the Tampa Bay Times in covering the 2012 presidential election]